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TWO SERMONS. 

THE FIRST, 

PREACHED OX THURSDAY, JULY 30; 

THE SECOND, 

PREACHED ON THURSDAY, AUGUST 20. 1812: 

BEIXG DAYS OF 

PASTING, HUMILIATION, AND PRAYER. 

APPOIXTED BY 

PUBLIC AUTIIORHT. 



BY JAMES ABERCROIMBH: , D. D. 

-XXOK ASSXST..X MT.ZSXH; o. CKazsx-CH U.C.r, 3X. PKX..-S, ... 
»T. JA.'.IEs's. 



PHILADELPHIA; 

•f. MuxwelJ, Printer. 






Dittvict of Pennsylvania, to 7cit.- 

BE it remembered, that on the eighth day of September m the ^''f 3r-3eventU 
year of the Independence of the United States «'.-'^':i^"";, f • ^1 \^^\ 
Aloses Thomas, of the said district, hath depos.ted in this office the .^^'^ «^^ 
iook, the right .hereof he claims as proprietor, in the words fodowmg to w.t- 

"Two Sermons: The first preached on Thursday, July 30; ^'^^ ^'^'^^^J^^l'^^^ 
on Thursday, Aueust '20; 1812: being days of FasUng, Hum.l.aUon, and Prayer, 
°ppoinad by ^.Z authority. By James Abercrombie.^D. D. Semor Assistant 
Minister of Ckrist-church, St- Peter's and St. James s. 

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, entitled^' An act 
« for the encouragement of learning, by secunngthe copies ot ^^^l'^'.^^^"?' 'I"" 
« Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, dunng the t.mcs thereiu 
« menUoned." And also to U.e Act. enUtled « An Act supplementary to an Act, 
«• Sutkd " an Act for the encouragement of Learning, by secunng tJ.e cop.es of 
•' M^is, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprieto^ ''^.^'^'^V.^^lTe' '^"o^- 
*' the times therein menUoned." and extending U.e benefits thereol to the arts ot 
« designing, engraving, and etching historical and other P'"";^'-^. ^^ p^^LL^ 

Clerk of the District of Pennsylvania, 



rilEFxVCE, 



It is with extreme reluctance that I commit the fol- 
lowing Sermons to the press. Being hastily WTitten, 
without the least idea of future publication, they are 
not sufficiently polished to meet unccnsured the severe 
and scrutinizing eye of classical criticism: and, being 
now given to the world, in vindication of myself against 
the false and malicious aspersions of a widely circulating 
daily Gazette, I am not at liberty to make any altera- 
tion or amendment. Under circumstances of such 
restriction, I trust I shall experience the indulgence 
of the reader. They are given exactly as delivered 
from the pulpit, without suppression or addition; and 
the original manuscripts are left with the printer, for the 
inspection of any who may doubt my assertion. 

The Democratic Press, of August 27th, says, " If 
the seditious sermon Dr. Abcrcrombie preached last 
Thursday, was intended as a signal, a tocsin for a7io- 
ther St. Bartholomew's, be all the innocent blood on 
the heads of the aggressors. The republicans are quiet, 
but not tame." And, in the same paper, an extract from 
the United States Gazette, of the 20th June, 1798, is 
thus introduced; " We are particularly moved to the 
publication of this extract, inasmuch as the last Fast 
Day Sermon of Parson Abercrombie, to say nothing of 
our New England clergymen, seems to call for some 
admonition at tliis juncture of our affairs." In tlie pa- 



per of August 2yth, after proposing to reprint as " Le- 
gendarij Talcs, Poems^ and JTorks of Fancy,'''' the de- 
clarations upon oath of the gentlemen who were sufferers 
in the late Baltimore Riot, the editor says, " to make 
the proposed -work useful in disseminating sound ortho- 
dox doctrines, in Religion as well as Politics, the 
publisher intends to enrich its pages with some of the 
choicest and most sedition- stirring passages in the 

FAST DAY SERMON 

of the 

REVEREND MR. ABERCROMBIE. 

The' volume shall be printed on a super Royal paper, 
■\vith a new Scots type, and bound in Calf.'''' In the 
next number of his paper he dedicates " An address to 
the people of England," said by him, to be written by 
\V. Cobbett, " to Parson Abercrombie and the rest of 
the Spaniel Tr'ihe,'" &c. &c. 

A public charge of sedit'ious intention, and a con- 
sequent threat of personal injury, though founded upon 
false and assumed premises, requires, at the present mo- 
ment of agitation and party rage, some attention; and 
is best refuted and repelled, by submitting the alleged 
cause to the candour of the public. That no sedition 
was intended by me, or can be found in my Sermon, I 
can with truth assert. The political sentiments are pre- 
dicated upon general principles, which every ^^■ell in- 
formed and honest politician must acknowledge to be 
just. But if doctrines are silently suffered to be per- 
verted, and scriptural authorities misapplied, that silence 
implies an acquiescence in the misrepresentation: iind no 



clerg}-man is sale in the discharge of liis professional 
duty, or unassailable by the arrows of calumny, or the 
frantic fury of a mob. 

That a clergyman must have, and as a member of the 
community hath a right to express, his sentiments on 
Political subjects, will surely not be denied; though the 
Pulpit, except, upon political occasions, is, of all others, 
the most improper place for their introduction. In the 
very few instances in which I hart suggested any thing 
of that nature in a sermon, I ha\e ahuays afterwards 
submitted it to the inspection of the public through 
the medium of the press. Had I not been restrained 
by a sense of propriety on the present occasion, I 
should probably have spoken more fully and explicitly 
on the awful and alarming situation of our country, oc- 
casioned indeed more by internal and silent, than by- 
open and external danger. The nations of the Eastern 
Continent have, for many years, been terrified, and many 
of them have been subdued, by a ferocious and unprin- 
cipled Tyrant, who has been permitted, as the scourge of 
Heaven, to sweep with the besom of destruction, the 
territories of the surrounding nations; and to subvert, 
with the iron scejDtre of Despotism, the tranquillity and 
happiness of the Kingdoms, Republics, and Empires, 
which for ages had enjoyed the protection and nourish-r 
ment of " their own vines and their own fig trees, while 
there was none to make them afraid."'^ From the re- 
moteness of our situation, xue have not much to fear 
from the external violence of this menacing Meteor: 
yet, its pestiferous and paralizing influence may infect 

* INIic. 4. 



VI 



with its deleterious poison our surrounding atmosphere; 
and produce, though in a difTercnt form, the same fatal 
and destructive consequences. JVt have yet been per- 
mitted, by the mercy of Heaven, to escape the fangs of 
his unbounded ambition, and to elude the gigantic grasp 
of a Monster, whose nervous arm is the sceptre of death 
— whose smile is the pledge of destruction — and whose 
fraternal embrace is the earnest of instantaneous annihi- 
lation — of the most abject sla^•ery — or, of protracted and 
lingering dissolution. Such severe discipline is some- 
times mercifully, yet wisely, administered by a superin- 
tending Providence to the children of men. 

*' It is the language of all the Scriptures," says the late 
eloquent and learned Lord Bishop of St. Asaph, Dr. 
Horsley, '•'■ that God governs the world according to his 
will; by which we must understand, a will perfectly in- 
dependent and unbiassed by any thing external; yet not 
an arbitrary will, but a will directed by the governing 
perfections of the Divine Intellect — by God's o\ni 
goodness and wisdom: and, as justice is included in 
the idea of goodness, it must be a will governed by 
God's justice. But God's justice, in its present dis- 
pensations, is a justice accommodated to our proba- 
tionary state, a justice which, making the ultimate 
happiness of those who shall finally be brought by the 
probationary discipline to love and fear God, its end, 
regards the sum total and ultimate issues of things — 
not the comparative deserts of men at the present mo- 
ment. To us, therefore, who see the present moment 
only, the government of the world will appear upon 
many occasions not conformable, in our judgments, 



Vll 

formed upon limited and narrow views of things, to 
the maxims of distributive justice. Wc sec power and 
prosperity not at all proportioned to merit, for " the 
Most High Avho ruleth in the kingdom of men, giveth 
it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the 
basest of men" — men base by the turpitude of their 
wicked lives, more than by the obscurity of their origi- 
nal condition; while good Kings are divested of their 
hereditary dominions, dethroned and murdered: inso- 
much, that if power and prosperity were sure marks of 
the favour of God for those by whom they are possessed, 
the observation of the poet, impious as it seems, would 
too often be verified. 

" The conqueror is Heaven's favourite; but on earth, 
" Just men approve and honour more the vanquish'd."* 

" As at this moment the world beholds with wonder and 
dismay, the low born usurper of a great monarch's throne, 
raised by the hand of Providence, unquestionably, to 
an eminence of power and grandeur, enjoyed by none 
since the subversion of the Roman empire — a man 
whose undaunted spirit and success in enterprise, might 
throw a lustre over the meanest birth, while the proflig-a 
cy of his private, and the crimes of his public life, would 
disgrace the noblest. When we see the Imperial Dia- 
dem circling thismonster'sbrows, — while we confess the 
hand of God in his elevation, let us not be tempted to 
conclude from this, or other similar examples, that he 
who ruleth in the kingdom of men delights in such 
characters, or that he is indifferent to the virtues and 
vices of men. It is not for his own sake that such a man 
is raised from the dunghill on which he sprang, but for 

* Victrix causa Diis placuit; sed victa Caioni. 



vm 

flic good of God's faithful servants, who are the ob- 
jects of liis constant care and love, even at the time 
that thcv arc suftcring- under the tyrant's cruelty: for who 
can doubt that the se\en brethren and their mother 
were the oI)jccts of God's love, and their persecutor 
Antiochus Epiphancs of his hate? But such j)ersons are 
raised up, and permitted to indulge their ferocious pas- 
sions, their ambition, their cruelt}', and tlicir revenge, 
as the instruments of God's judgments for the reforma- 
tion of his people; and when that purpose is answered, 
vengeance is executed upon them for their own crimes. 
Thus it was with Nebuchadnezzar, and with that more 
ancient persecutor Sennacherib, and many more; and so 
\vc trust it shall be ^^ ith him ^vho now " smiteth the 
people in his wrath and rulcth the nations in his anger." 
A\'hen the nations of Europe shall l^reak oft' dieir sins 
by righteousness, the Corsican shall be persecuted with 
the fury of our avenging God, and none shall hinder." 
*' It has been the ^vill of God to set up over the king- 
dom" the basest of men," in order to chastise thepro- 
faneness, the irrcligion, the lukewarmness, the profli- 
gacy, the turbulent, seditious spirit of the times; and 
\\ hen this purpose is effected, and the wrnth of God ap- 
[)eased, ' wherein is this man to be accounted of, whose 
breath is in his nostrils?' "* 

Our danger, however, from our local situation, does 
not arise so much from the physical or military strength, 
as from the insidious conduct of this Colossal Conque- 
ror, who " stands on the continent of Europe, like a 
political Upas, surrounded by the prostrate remains of 

* Ilorslcy; Scnu. vol. 2. p. :,"2 and ?o6. 



IX 



its credulous governments. Wherever its branching 
arms extend, reign the silence of despair and the apathy 
of slavery; while nations yet to be ravaged look on with 
indifference, under the fatal illusion, that the rank and 
miphitic blasts of oppression and tyranny, like those of 
the poisonous vegetable, shed their baneful venom only 
within a definite circle; each vainly imagining, until too 
late, that they are removed from the danger of its influ- 
ence, by some peculiar local or moral cause.* 

Should an alliance be formed by our rulers with this 
tremendous power, " we shall be covered," to adopt 
the energetic language of that accomplished scholar 
and eloquent writer, Mr. Walsh — "with a double 
load of opprobrium, as we are the only nation of the 
globe, that will have arranged itself on the side of 
France, without unavoidable necessity, or without 
having first undergone a struggle with that power. The 
security which circumstances had given us, from 
her desolating sword, will be the seal of our condem- 
nation. It will be our ignominious sentence, in the 
judgment of our contemporaries, and at the bar of his- 
tory, that when, to our eternal honour, we might, at 
very little risk, have stood forth after England, as the 
second and only bulwark of civilisation and justice,! 

* Walsh's Rev. for July, 1812. p. 135. 

i The Rev. E. Parish, D. D. of ByficUl in Massachusetts, in 
liis new system of Modern Gcograpliy, spcakinij of ibe political 
importance of France, thus eloquently expresses iiimself. 
"France has but one rival in her political influence; she seems 
to direct the destiny of empiies. Her conquests have been ex- 
tensive; the splendour of her victories has astonished the woi Id, 

3 



X 

\\c exchanged this illustrious character, for that of a 
subordinate, and the only Aoluntary confederate, in 
tlie monstrous scheme pursued by her enemy, to bru- 
talize and enslave the human race."* 

The destructive and unnecessary war in which a 
blundering and feeble Administration hath involved us, 
\\ ill of all other possible events be most likely to induce, 
under the plea of necessity and the mask of patriotism, 
this worst of all evils, this sure precipitation into the 
gulf of national perdition. 

Such being the imminent, the awful danger, which 
threatens my country, being thus compelled to come 
before the public, 'tis from the impulse of duty, and, I 
trust, of genuine patriotism, that I avail myself of the op- 
portunity to raise my warning voice, and candidly to 
express in the /'/•^ct' those sentiments which would 
have been unsuitable to the nature of the composition, 
or the sacredness of the place in which the following 
Sermons Mere delivered. 

I have published my Sermon, prerxhed on tlie first 
Fast day (July 30, 1812,) lest the sedition said to be in 
the last, not being found there, should be transferred 
to the first. I trust none will be found by the candid 
reader in either — " Qui capit, ille facit." 

Philadelfiliiay Sr/ilembtr 7 (/ly 1812. 

and aweil the rulers of nations. Secured by surrounding l)il- 
lows the British Monarcliy alone, like Noali from the mountain 
of Ararat, looks down on the universal Deluge of ruin." p. 186. 

* Walsh's Review, No. 7. p. 7 t. 



SERMONS 



A SERMON, 



PHEACHED IN 



CimiST CHURCH and ST. JAINIES'S, 



PHILADELPHIA, 



ON THURSDAY, JULY 30, 1812, 



APPOtXTED BY CIVIL AXD ECCLESIASTICAL AUTHORITY, 



AS A HAY 



FASTING, HUMILIATION, AND PRAYER, 



THROUGHOUT THE 



STATE OF PENTSSYLYANIA 



BY JAMES ABERCROMBIE, D. D. 

SCXIOR ASSISTANT MTXISTER OF CHRIST-CUCRCB, ST. PE TEtl's, A \ D 
ST. JA»ES'$ 



A SERMON, &c. 



2 Chron. vii. U. 

If my people who are called by my name, shall humble them- 
selves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked 
ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and will forgive their sin, 
and will heal their land. 

Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence 
are properties universally acknowledged to be essential 
to the nature of Deity, and are therefore justly ascribed 
by us to the God whom we profess to worship. 

The possession of these attributes necessarily im- 
plies an observance of the conduct, and a consequent 
approbation or disapprobation of all his rational crea- 
tures. And as we, as such, are endowed with the fa- 
culty of freewill, and have not only the law or will of 
God written upon our hearts, and operating by the agen- 
cy of conscience, or the moral sense, but have the clear- 
, er and more explicit revelations of the old and new co- 
venants to guide our feet into the paths of rectitude and 
peace, we cannot but believe, that this Almighty Being 
will reward or punish us according as our conduct qua- 
drates with, or is opposed to, his divine will. This retri- 
butive punishment or blessing was, under the first or 
old covenant, experienced by the occurrence of worlcUij 
prosperity or adversity: and though under the new, as 
the sphere of our knowledge is increased and extended 



16 

into the invisible or spirituiil world, that retributive re- 
ward or punishment is to be ultimately and fully expect- 
ed b)' us in a future state, yet the dictates of reason as 
well as the assurances of revelation teach us, that this life 
is still a probationary state; and that its events are di- 
rected by a superintending Providence, to call into ope- 
ration the Christian virtues, and thereby to qualify us 
for admission into the kingdom of Heaven: nay, so mi- 
nute and vigilant is our celestial Protector and Guide de- 
clared to be, that not even a sparrow falleth to the 
ground without his knowledge and permission."^ Hence 
arise the important doctrines of a general and particular 
Providence, the former relating to the destinies of na- 
tions and empires, die latter to those of individuals. 

A confidence in this theory of the Divine Govern- 
ment hath induced the assembling of ourselves together 
this day, to deprecate the divine displeasure, and there- 
by to avert, by penitence and prayer, the difficulties and 
distresses wc are already involved in, and the infinitely 
more dreadful calamities which lie before us in prospect. 
In the remainder of this discourse, therefore, I shall, 
1st. Briefly advocate the doctrine delivered, 
2dlv. Comment in order upon the requisitions in 
mv text, as resulting from the doctrine delivered; and, 
3dlv. Apply its operation to our present national cir- 
cumstances. 

" It is impossible," said a wise and virtuous Hea- 
then,! " for a rational being to look up to the heavens, 
and contemplate the magnificence and splendour of the 
firmament, and the rich variety of provision which the 

• M;iU. X. 29. t Cicero. 



17 

cartli aflbrds for the com fort and accommodation of man, 
without acknowledging- that there must be a God." 

And, that the Ahnighty Being who created not only 
this earth, but the immense and immeasurable universe, 
contiimes to uphold and preserve it, is equally evident. 
His wisdom and goodness are amply displayed towards 
mankind, as well in the wonderful mechanism and con 
struction of their bodies, as in having communicated to 
them refined intellectual powers, by which they can rea- 
son, reflect, judge, and regulate their actions; in the rich 
variety of gifts which incontrovertibly testify his having 
designed them for happiness; in his daily preservation of 
them; in the capacity he hath given them, of enjoying 
the pleasures of social and domestic life; in delivering 
them from, or comforting them under affliction; in of- 
fering to forgive their sins; in granting to them instruc- 
tion and assistance to obtain eternal life; in inspiring 
them with the hope of immortality; in the gi'acious dis- 
pensation of the Christian religion, to cherish and confirm 
that hope; in the limited period of man's probationary 
state; and in the sure and precious promises he hath ex- 
tended to him. 

Under such circumstances, can we for a moment 
doubt the superintending care of God? and, if indivi- 
duals are thus induced to acquiesce in his dispensa- 
tions, and improve them to their spiritual benefit, 
surely the conduct of nations, or large associations of 
individuals, must be in a superior degree objects of his 
parental attention and care: and, as the imbecility of our 
intellectual powers prevents us from judging accurately 
of the cause and ultimate tendency of events, we must 



18 

conclude, that they arc wisely ordered for ouf benefit; 
either, ifadverse, to punish ouromissionsof duty,or com- 
missions of sin, and thereby induce repentance and refor- 
mation; or, as trials ofour faith and voluntary obedience. 

Such are some of the leading suggestions of Rea- 
son with respect to the providence of God, and they 
are all abundantly enlarged and confirmed by the assu- 
rances of Divine Revelation — by Patriarchs and Pro- 
phets — by Christ and his Apostles. "I," saith God, by 
his Prophet Isaiah, •' I form light and create darkness. 
I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these 
things. Wo unto him that striveth ^vith his Maker. I 
have made the earth, and created man upon it. Look 
unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth."* 

" Behold," saith God, by his prophet Jeremiah, " as 
the clay in the potter's hand, so are ye in my hand, O 
house of Israel. At what instant I shall speak con- 
cerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck 
up, and to pull down, and to destroy it, if that nation, 
against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, 
I will withhold the punishment with which I thought to 
visit them."t 

" Wisdom and might," saith Daniel, " are his, and he 
changeth the times and the seasons; he removeth kings 
and setteth up kings. The most High ruleth in the 
kingdom of men, and giveth it to Avhomsoe\ er he will; 
and" sometimes " setteth up over it the basest of men. "J 

" The Lord killeth and niakcth alive, he bringeth 
down to the grave and bringeth up: the Lord maketh 
poor and maketh rich; he bringeth low and lifteth up."^ 

* Is. 15. t Jer. 18. } Dan. 2. and 4. 1 § Sam. 2. 



19 

" He increaseth the nations and destroyeth them," 
saith holy Job, " he cnlargeth the nations and straight- 
eneth them again."* 

" The kingdom," saith David, " is the Lord's, and 
he is the Governor among the Nations."! 

" Behold," said Christ, " the fowls of the air: for 
they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; 
yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are not ye 
much better than they?" J 

" God is faithful," saith St. Paul, " who will not 
suffer you to be tempted. (or tried) above thatyc are 
able; (to bear) but will with the temptation (or trial) also 
make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."§ 

Many other passages of similar import might be ad- 
ded, did time permit — let these suffice to show the ge- 
neral tenor of Holy Writ upon this interesting subject. 

I proceed now, 2dly, to comment in order upon the 
requisitions in my text, as resulting from the doctrine 
delivered. 

King Solomon having finished the building of 
that magnificent temple, which he had erected for the 
worship of the most High God, and having solemnly 
dedicated it by prayer and sacrifices to that sacred pur- 
pose, the Lord testified his divine approbation of his 
labours by sending down fire from Heaven, which 
consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and a 
cloud of glory filled the house, so that the priests could 
not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory 
of the Lord had filled the house of God. And the 
Lord appeared to Solomon by night and said unto him, 
I have heard thy prayer, and have chosen this place 

* Job. 12. t Ps. xxii. } Mat. 6. § I Cor. 10. 



20 

to myself for a place of sacrifice. If I shut up Heaven 
that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to de- 
vour the land, or if I send pestilence" (or war) " among 
my people; if my people, who are called by my name, 
shall humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and 
turn from their wicked Mays, then will 1 liear from Hea- 
ven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."^ 
"If my people who arc called by my name shall 
humble themselves." — 

Pride, ambition, vanity, and self conceit, are turbu- 
lent and debasing passions, which render us blind to 
our spiritual weaknesses and wants, and agitate and de- 
form the mind of man in such a manner, as to render it 
an unholy and unfit receptacle for the divine influence, 
or Spirit of God; and therefore we are told by the 
voice of inspiration, " into a malicious or haughty soul, 
Wisdom (or Religion) will not enter, nor dwell in the 
body which is subject unto sin; for the Holy Spirit 
will (lee deceits, and remove from thoughts which have 
no understanding, and will not abide A\hcn unright- 
eousness Cometh mr\ " The pride of thine heart," 
said Cod by his prophet Obadiah, to Edom; " the 
pride of thine heart hath deceived thee." J " Pride," saith 
Solomon, was not made for man, and '* why are earth 
and ashesproud?" V " God," saiih St. James, " reslsteth the 
proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. "I " Humble 
yourselves," saith St. Peter, '' under the mighty hand of 
God, that he may exah you in due tiuie."',[ It was an 
enjoined part of the religious discipline of the Jews, to 
express their humility by bitting in sackcloth and ashes. 
Before therefore uc presume to approach our Maker in 

* 2 Chron. 7. \ Ob. 3. II J^im- 4- 

t Wis. i. 4. i Eccl. 10, and 18. ? 1 Pet. 



21 

the character of suppliants, wc should contrast our lit- 
tleness and vileness with his purity and greatness, and 
humble ourselves before him. 

" If my people who arc called by my name shall 
humble themselves and /^rrzy" — After a just conviction 
of our wants and unvvorthiness, and being clothed with 
humility, we are permitted to addre<is our Almighty 
Creator, and to pray unto him." " Before thou pray- 
cst," says Solomon, " prepare thyself."* "Arise and call 
upon thy God."t " In every thing by prayer and sup- 
plication with thanksgiving let your requests be made 
known to God.t " The effectual fervent prayer of a 
righteous man availeth much with God."^ 

" Pra3'er ardent opens Heaven, lets clown a stream 

*' Of Glory on the consecrated hour 

*' Of man, in audience with the Deity." Young. 

" If my people who are called by my name shall 
humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face:' This 
expression in scripture language is synonimous with 
praying. " Seek ye my face," saith God; " Thy face," 
said David, " Lord will I seek."|| '' The name of God 
is on them for good that seek his face."l We must 
seek the Lord before he will be found. We must 
come, as it were into his presence, and fall low on our 
knees before his footstool, when, we pray unto him. 

The next requisition is ''to turn from their wicked 
ways:' — Acknowledgment of error, petition for pardon, 
and supplication for grace, though enjoined duties, 
would be but a mockery of God, linlcss our repentance 
be accompanied by reformation. 

*' Let the wicked yony/A^- his way, and the unrighte- 
ous man his thoughts; and let him return unto the Lord 
• Eccius 18. \ Phil. IIP. s. cr. 

t Jonah, 6. § Jjini. 5. ^r Ez. 8. 



and he will then have mercy on him, and to our God for 
he •will abundantly pardon."* 

*' If the wicked will turn from all his sins, and keep 
all my statutes, and do that which is la^\'ful and right, 
he shall surely live, he shall not die."t 

When John the Baptist saw many of the Pharisees 
and Sadducees (the ostentatious and empty professors of 
religion) come to his baptism, he called upon them to at- 
test their sincerity by corresponding conduct: "Bring- 
forth, said he, fruits meet for (or indicative of) repen- 
tance."! " By theiryrw?V^," said Christ " shall ye know 
my disciples."^ St. Paul told king Agrippa, that his 
instructions to the Jews of Damascus and at Jerusalem, 
and throughout all the coasts of Judea, and then to the 
Gentiles were, that they should repent and turn to God, 
and do works meet for repentance. || 

On the observance of these requisitions, viz. con- 
trition, prayer or supplication, sincere repentance, and 
actual reformation, the mercy and favour of God, arc 
promised to sinful, depraved, rebellious man: and, on no 
other. Awful, and alarming declaration! 

" If my people who are called by my name shall 
humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn 
from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, 
and will forgive their sin, and will heal their landy 

I proceed now to the third proposed head of my dis- 
course, viz. To apply the text, and the doctrine deliver- 
ed from it, to our present national circumstances. " I 
will hear from heaven, and will forgi^•e their sin, and will 
heal their land.'''' 

* Is. Iv. I Mat. iii. 1! Acts xxvi. 

t Kz. xviii. § Mat. vii. 



23 

" When thy judgments, O Lord," saith the evangeli- 
cal Isaiah, "are abroad in the earth, the inhabitiints of the 
world will learn righteousness:"* for therefore are they 
sent. And a more general, awful, and impressive call 
to repentance and reformation hath never before been 
heard by the world, than thatwhich now exists; and which, 
like the voice of the trumpet on Sinai's trembling mount, 
at the time of the promulgation of the law, hath " sound- 
ed long, and waxed louder and louder,"t by the exten-^ 
sion and accumulation of national calamities throughout 
the civilized portion of the globe. 

War, famine, pestilence, volcanoes, earthquakes in 
divers places, and every possible convulsion of nature 
and of human society hath terrified and distracted the 
nations of the old world. 

Brethren, rue have not fully experienced the miseries 
I have depicted. Let the prayer, the penitence, and the 
ardour of our devotions this day, endeavour to avert the 
threatened desolation. Let us humble ourselves, and 
pray, and seek the Lord, and turn from our wicked 
ways, that he may heal and protect our land; that he 
may heal our internal divisions, and make us as a band 
of brothers, of one mind and of one heart, in seeking the 
Lord, and in acting with wisdom, moderation, and inte- 
grity. The rod of his anger is held over us in terror, but 
he hath hitherto forborne to strike. We are indeed un- 
expectedly involved in a declaration of war against a 
powerful nation, with which there exist the natural bonds 
of amity, which arise from a similarity of language, cus- 
toms, manners, religion, laws, and, as far as the circum- 

* Is. xKvi. t Ex. xix. 



24 

stances of our infant country would permit, a form of 
government. 

A discussion, however, of the principles or motives 
which have led to this declaration of war is foreij^n to 
this place. Our duty as Christians and fellow citizens 
is, to lament its occurrence, and implore the aversion of 
its calamities; to lament that this once prosperous and 
happy countr\' is now distracted by internal divisions — 
her Commerce, the strongest nerve of her prosperity, wi- 
thered by internal restrictions, and external violence — 
and many of her most active and industrious citizens 
consequently reduced, with their families, to penur}^ and 
to want. Surely these are diseases of our land, which 
none but the Almighty's hand can heal. Let therefore 
each individual consider his responsibility as such to 
pray, to consider his ways, to repent, to reform — to pray 
that our rulers may be directed by celestial \visdom to 
order our affairs so as yet to a^'oid the horrors of war. 

" As war," says that illustrious moralist. Dr. Samuel 
Johnson, " is the last and most desperate of remedies, all 
lawful expedients should be used to avoid it. Js war 
is the extremity of national evil^ it is surely the duty of 
those ivhose station intrusts' them with the care of na- 
tions to avert it from their charge. There are diseases 
of animal nature which nothing but amputation can re- 
move, so there may, by the depravation of human pas- 
sions, be sometimes a gangrene in collective life, for 
which lire and the sword are the necessary remedies: but, 
in what can skill or caution be better shown, than in pre- 
venting such dreadful operations, while there is yet 
room for gentler methods?"* 

* Falkland Islands. 



25 

And, in order that we may perform our part, let us 
most fervently avail ourselves of the present appoint- 
ment, to endeavour by penitence, prayer, and reforma- 
tion, to appease the wrath of Heaven, and avert the evils 
which threaten to overwhelm us — To this end, let us 
again supplicate the mercy of our God. 

Eternal and ever blessed God, by whom all things 
were made, and by whom they are upheld, mercifully 
look down from the throne of thy glory upon the un- 
worthy creatures who are now bowing at thy footstool. 
Give us grace to humble ourselves under thy mighty 
hand. Take away from us, we beseech thee, all hard- 
ness of heart. Cause us seriously to reflect on the mi- 
series of war, and to obey that awful voice which now 
calleth us to supplication and repentance. Sanctify to 
us the solemn situation into which our sinful passions 
have brought us, that we may not only call upon thy 
holy name, but put away the evils which provoke thy 
just displeasure. 

O merciful God, though we be chastised, let us not 
be forsaken by thee. Give wisdom, give integrity, 
give true patriotism, we beseech thee, to those who 
manage our public affliirs; that they may discern and 
adopt the best measures that can be pursued at this 
time of public danger and distress. 

We confess, O Lord, that we are a wicked and re- 
bellious people, notwithstanding the manifold and re- 
peated mercies thou hast vouchsafed to us. Thou hast 
shown us wonderful things in thy goodness, O God of 
our salvation, and hast hitherto protected us from open 
\ iolence. Thou hast continued to tis the light of thy glo- 

D 



26 

rious gospel — the benefits of thy AVord and Sacraments, 
and hast blessed us with liberty, safety, and plenty, 
whilst so many of our brethren abroad are persecuted 
and enslaved: and, whilst odier countries have groaned 
under the miseries and calamities of tyranny, bloodshed, 
and ruin, thou hast given us fruitful seasons, and many 
other great and invaluable blessings; and for many years 
hast preserved us from pestilence, from famine, from 
civil and intestine wars — and when thou hast corrected 
us, it has been like a kind and tender Father, in mercy 
and gentleness, letting us see, that not our ruin, but 
our amendment, was intended thereby. 

O! merciful God, hear us, pardon us, and restore 
to us the blessings of peace and prosperity, for the sake, 
and through the merits and intercession of thy blessed 
Son, our Saviour and Redeemer. Amen and Amen. 



A SERMON, 



PREACHED IS 



ST. JAMES'S CHURCH, 



PHILADELPHIA, 



«N THURSDAY, AUGUST 20, 1812, 



THE DAY APPOINTED 



BY THE 



PRESIDENT OF THE L^NITED STATES 



« FOR THE DEVOUT PURPOSES OF RENDERING TO THE SOVE- 
REIGN OF THE UNIVERSE, AND THE BENEFACTOR OF 
MANKIND, THE PUBLIC HOMAGE DUE TO HIS HOLY ATTRI- 
BUTES." PROCLAMATION. 



BY JAMES ABERCROMBIE, D. D. 

..yXOI. ASSISTANT MINISTER OF CHHZST-CHURCU, ST, PET.n's, .NO 
ST. JAMES'S. 



A SERMON, &c. 

^ Hosea xiii. 9. 

O Israeli thou hast destroyed thyself; hot in me is thy help. 

Such was the remonstrative address of God, by his 
holy prophet, to his chosen people Israel, often designat- 
ed in this book under the term Ephraim: a part being, by 
a customary figure of speech, put for the whole, in these, 
as is in many other passages of the sacred writings. 

The circumstances recorded, which induced this af- 
fectionate expostulation, are verj' remarkable; and de- 
serve our particular attention. 

The tribe of Ephraim, one of the most numerous, 
and consequently most powerful of the twelve, and with 
whom the tabernacle of God had, for many years, been 
lodged at Shiloh — who also in journeying through the 
wilderness toward the land of Canaan, had, together with 
the Manassites and Benjamites, been privileged with en- 
camping immediately behind the tabernacle and the 
ark, so that God was said by the Royal Psalmist to 
"lead Joseph," (Ephraim and Manasseh being his two 
sons) " like a fiock," and to show himself particularly 
and perpetually to these tribes, in the Shechinah, or glo- 
ry, ^e symbol of the divine presence, which hovered 
over the mercy seat, between tlie two golden cherubim, 
who, with their expanded wings, covered it abovc^riiis 
favoured portion of Israel, and as it would appear from 



30 

the text, the Israelites in general, had been seduced into 
a familiar intercourse with the idolatrous king of Assyria, 
and trafficked in his land, by which means they gradual- 
ly relinquished the worship of the true God, and became 
the worshippers of his idols — notwithstanding which, he 
afterwards treacherously marched a powcrfull# army 
into their land, took and ravaged the fenced cities, 
murdering the inhabitants in the most inhuman and 
merciless manner. Hence the complaint and lamenta- 
tion of the prophet — " Ephraim feedeth on Avind, and 
followeth after the east wind; he daily increaseth lies 
and desolation, and doth make a covenant with the As- 
syrians, and oil is carried into Egypt." And hence, the 
complaint of God by the same prophet: *' Ephraim 
compasseth me about with lies, and the house of Israel 
with deceit; but Judah yet ruleth with God, and is faith- 
ful with the saints." " Ephraim is joined to his idols, 
let him alone." *' The iniquity of Ephraim is bound 
up, his sin is hid." " He hath ploughed wickedness, and 
reaped iniquity, and eaten the fruit of lies — Therefore 
shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortres- 
ses shall be spoiled: the Assyrian shall be their king, be- 
cause they refused to return. Therefore I will be unto 
them as a lion, as a leopard by the way will 1 observe 
them, I will meet them as a bear that is robbed of her 
whelps, and will rend the caul of their heart; and there 
will I devour them like a lion, the wild beast shall tear 
them" — And then follow the words of my text. " O 
Israel thou hast destroyed thyself, but in mc is thy help. 
O Israel return unto the Lord thy God, for thou hast 
fallertby thine iniquity." This the prophet afterwards 
predicts sjiall be done. " Ephraim shall 3^et say, 



31 

What have I any more to do with idols?" And he thus 
concludes his book: " Who is wise, and he shall under- 
stand these things, |Drudent and he shall know them."* 

The psalm which I referred to in the preceding 
narration is tlie 80th, and begins thus: 

" Hear, O thou Shepherd of Israel, thou that lead- 
est Joseph like a sheep; show thyself also, thou that 
sittest between the Cherubim. Before Ephraim, Ben- 
jamin and Manasses stir up thy strength and come and 
help us. Turn us again, O God, show the light of thy 
countenance and we shall be whole. O Lord God of 
Hosts, how long wilt thou be angry with thy people 
that prayeth? Thou feedest them with the bread of 
tears, and givest them plenteousness of tears to drink. 
Thou hast made us a very strife unto our neighbours, 
and our enemies laugh us to scorn. Turn us again, O 
God of Hosts, show the light of thy countenance and 
we shall be whole." 

That the infinite wisdom and power of Almighty 
God, direct and control the destinies of nations is an 
incontrovertible truth, dictated by reason and confirm- 
ed by Divine Revelation: attested also by the recording 
pen of the historian through the long lapse of succeeding 
ages, since the first association of mankind under the 
restraints of government and law. The turbulent pas- 
sions, the vitious propensities, the wants, the weaknes- 
ses, and the wickedness of men, compel them to seek 
for safety ancj for comfort from the salutary organiza- 
tion of civilized society; and the same principles, in- 
flamed bv luxurv, and stimulated into vijrorous exer- 

Hos. xiv. S, 41. 



32 

tion by the flattering suggestions of ambition, avarice, 
or pride, are rendered the powerful agents of the cor- 
ruption, decay, and dissolution of that very compact 
which, for a time, constituted the source of public as 
well as of individual happiness. Every thing terres- 
trial, whether immediately formed by the creating hand 
of Deity, or resulting from the reason and ingenuity of 
man, is stamped with the signet of Fate; and, touched 
by the Talisman of Time, becomes resolved into its ori- 
ginal principles. " Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt 
thou return," was the fiat of the Almighty Creator, even 
against man, whom he had constituted the head, the 
Lord, or Govemour of this lower world. " The bodv," 
says Solomon, " shall return to the earth, as it was, and 
the spirit shall return unto God \vho gave it."* 

This, though ultimately certain to all, is effected in a 
variety of modes, and at different periods of existence; 
and may be retarded or accelerated by attending to, or 
rejecting, the suggestions of wisdom and virtue. 

With respect to Communities, their dissolution and 
destruction generally iirise, from the weakness or wick- 
edness of the Rulers, or the ignorance and profligacy of 
the People. " Wo unto thee, O Land!" says Solo- 
mon, " whose king," (or chief magistrate) **is a child, "f 

The high responsibility which the administration of 
a government involves, requires, as indispensable quali- 
fications, both in the Legislative and Executive 
branches, not only sufficient JFtsdom to know what is 
best calculated to promote the interest of the commu- 
nity, but the most incorruptible Fidelity to choose anf! 

* Eccl. xii. 7. i Eccles, i. 16. 



33 

pursue that course of conduct; and when both or either 
of these essential principles is wanting, the interests of 
the nation must suffer and decline; and it will eventu- 
ally fall a sacrifice, either to internal dissensions and ci- 
All war, or to the flattery or corruption of some jealous 
or ambitious rival Power, who grasps at its dominion; 
and through the imbecility or treachery of its Rulers, 
will often accomplish the desired object by secret and 
invisible means, before the people can be sufficiently 
awakened to see their danger, or prevent, by timely ex- 
ertions, the destruction w hich threatens them. A sound 
and vigorous constitution may be undermined as ef- 
fectually, by a wasting, yet flattering and gradual decay, 
as by the frantic delirium of a fever, or the convulsive 
agonies of apoplexy. The mischief and misery which 
open force or outrageous violence could not eflfect, 
have often been as certainly accomplished under the' 
guise of friendship, imd the insidious delusions of pre- 
tended patriotism. And such calamitous events are 
permitted by Providence to occur, as a punishment to^ 
that nation or people for their general defection in reli- 
gious or moral duties, or an insensible disregard or un- ' 
grateful enjoyment of the blessings it may have pleased 
God to shower down upon them. " O Israel, thou 
hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help.'* 

Innumerable are the examples, both in sacred and 
civil history, of the destruction of cities and countries, in 
consequence of the wickedness of their inhabitants. 

" Hear, O Israel," said God by Moses, " thou art 
to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations 
greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and 

E 



34 

fenced up to Heaven. But, not for thy righteousness, 
or for the uprightness of Mm^* heart dost thou go to pos- 
sess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations 
the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before 
thee."* 

Had ten righteous persons been found in Sodom 
and the cities of the plain, they would not ha\ e been 
destroyed; and many are the threatenings recorded in 
Holy Writ against iniquitous nations to overthrow them, 
*• like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, 
and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger 
and his wrath:" of whom saith Moses, should it be 
asked, " wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto tliis 
land? what meaneth the heat of this great anger? men 
shall say because they have forsaken the covenant of 
the Lord God of their fathers, which he made with 
them, when he brought them forth out of the land of 
Egypt. For they went and served other gods, and 
Avorshipped them, gods whom they knew not, and whom 
he had not given unto thcm."t 

*' Seek ye the Lord," saith God, by his prophet 
Zephaniah. " Seek righteousness: it may be ye shall be 
hid in the day of the Lord's anger, for Gaza shall be 
forsaken, and Ashkelon a desolation: they shall drive 
out Ashdod at the noonday, and Ekron shall be root- 
ed up. Wo unto the inhabitants of the sea coasts, 
the nation of the Cherethites, the word of the Lord is 
against you: O Canaan, the land of the Philistines, I 
will even destroy thee, that there shall be no inhabi- 
tant. I have heard the reproach of Moab, and the rc- 
vilings of the children of Ammon, whereby they have 

* Deu. 9. t Deu. 29. 



^5 

reproached my people, and magnified themselves 
agamst their border. Therefore, as I live, saith the 
Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel, surely Moab shall be 
as Sodom, and the children of Ammon as Gomorrah. 
Ye Ethiopians also, ye shall be slain by my sword. 
And I will stretch out my hand against the north and 
destroy Assyria, and will make Nineveh a desolation, 
and dry like a wilderness.* 

" The mostHigh," saith the prophet Daniel, ''ruleth 
in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he 
will, and" (sometimes) " setteth up over it the basest 
of men." t 

" At what instant," saith God, by his prop^iet Jere- 
miah " I shall speak concerning a nation, and concern- 
ing a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to 
destroy it. If that nation against whom I have pro- 
nounced turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil 
that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I 
shall speak concerning a nation and concerning a king- 
dom, to build and to plant it; if it do evil in my sight 
that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good 
wherewith I said I would benefit them. ";{: 

" Repent, and turn yourselves from all your trans- 
gressions, so iniquity shall not be your ruin."§ 

" If my people who are called by my name, shall 
humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and 
tuin from their wicked ways, then will I hear from 
Heaven, and w'ill forgive their sin, and will heal their 
Iand."|| 

* Zep. 2. \ Jer 18. [IS Chron. 7. 

+ Dan. 4. ^ Jcr. ?8. 



86 

'' Righteousness cxalteth a nation, but sin is a re- 
proach to any people."* 

" When thy judgments, O Lord," saith Isaiah, " are 
in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn 
righteousness."! 

Repentance and reformation are the sure and de- 
clared modes of appeasing the wrath of Heaven, and 
conciliating the favour of the Deity. And as the vir- 
tue and piety of individuals promote and constitute the 
security and happiness of the community, so under 
the infliction of national difficulty or distress, the cor- 
rection of the errors which induced it, must commence 
in the reformation of individuals. Let each member of 
our great political family, therefore, hold up to his men- 
tal eye the mirror of Conscience, and strictly mark his 
omissions of duty, and commissions of sin, whether 
of a civil, domestic, or religious nature, and he will soon 
see how highly instrumental his conduct must have 
been in occasioning the difficulty or distress inflicted. 
The influence of individual character in retarding or 
promoting the public weal, has been felt and acknow- 
ledged by all reflecting minds in every age: and in all 
civilized societies, the institution of days of public hu- 
miliation and prayer, are intended to produce that gene- 
ral and beneficial effect. Let us therelore justly im- 
pro^ e the appointment by which we are now assembled 
in this Holy Temple; and let us retire from this house 
of prayer, determined to search and try our wa}s, to re- 
view our past lives, and reform not ojily whatever has 
been amiss in the temper and dibposition of our minds, 

* Frov- 14. t isi.. 26. 



37 

but in whatever has been deficient and erroneous in oui 
conduct as professing Christians^ as members of a poli- 
tical or civil association^ as heads of families or sustain- 
ing any of the important relations of domestic life. '' O 
Israel, thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help." 
I would ask every individual in this assembly, have 
you as a professing Christian strenuously and seduously 
endeavoured to walk worthy of that high and blessed 
vocation wherewith you are called? Have you been a 
Christian in deed and in truth, or have you only made a 
mockery of Christ, by calling yourself his disciple, with- 
out obeying his precepts, or availing yourselvjurof the 
aid he has offered to conduct you to his Heavenly King- 
dom? Have you regularly observed the public worship of 
God; and when in his Holy Temple devoutly joined in 
the public service, thereby inducing others by the pow- 
erful influence of your example to perform their duty, 
^' to worship, and fall down and kneel before the Lord 
our Maker?" Have you partaken of those instituted 
channels of divine grace, his Holy Sacraments, particu- 
larly that of the Lord's Supper, to which you are so 
earnestly called and bidden by Christ himself, and his 
Ministring Servants? Have you diligently read and me- 
ditated upon the word of God, contained in the Old and 
New Testaments, mercifully given to you as the char- 
ter of your eternal salvation — the guide which is grant- 
ed to conduct you, by the path of holiness, through this 
wilderness of sin, to the regions of Celestial Happiness, 
the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Paradise of God? Have 
you by private and daily devotion implored the for- 
giveness d the faAOur oi Almighty God, together with 
the influence of his Blessed Spirit, to restrain your pas- 



3S 

sions, to purify your hearts, to direct your wishes and 
desires, to set your aflections on tilings above, on the 
seraphic enjoyments of the Heavenly Jerusalem? 

As a member of a political and civil association, have 
you been obedient to the laws? Have you, according to the 
Constitution of our government, and agreeably to the 
privileges communicated by it, as a good citizen, with- 
€ut regard to personal or party considerations, endea- 
voured, according to the sphere of your influence, to 
place in the important station of Rulers, men of wisdom, 
integrity, firmness, magnanimity, and disinterested at- 
tachment to the public welfare; the dignity, the honour 
and prosperity of the nation? and if that honourable and 
responsible station has been held by men incompetent 
to, or unfaithful in the discharge of its duties, have you 
with equal alacrity and zeal, endeavoured, by all 
lawful means, to remove them from their elevated sta- 
tion, of which they may thus have proved themselves 
unworthy, and to place in their stead men of superior 
talents and superior virtue? Have you exhibited your- 
self as a useful and ornamental member of society by 
unwearied diligence in the exercise of your profession 
or calling, by prudence and justice in your dealings 
with others, by temperance, mildness and urbanity in 
your deportment, by exercising the rites of hospitality 
with promptness and generosity to your friends and ac- 
quaintance, and even to strangers " Use hospitality," says 
St. Peter, "one towards another without grudging,"* 
and, " Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for, there- 
by some have entertained angels unawares," says St. 
Paul to the Hebrews. f Have you willingly assisted in re- 
' 1 Pet. 4. + Heb. 13. 



lieving the wants of your suffering brethren, and accord- 
ing to your abihty given to him tliat needed? Have 
you forgiven others their trespasses against you as 
freely and fully, as you hope forgiveness from your Fa- 
ther who is in Heaven? In short, have you regulated all 
your thoughts, words, and actions by the golden rule 
of doing to otliers, as, under an exchange of circum- 
stances, you would wish them to do unto you ? 

As the head of a family, or sustaining any of the 
important relations of domestic hfe, have you acted with 
kindness and affability towards your equals, with respect 
imd due submission to your superiors, and with mild- 
ness and affectionate condescension to your inferiors. 
As a parent, have you instructed your children by salu- 
tary example as well as by precept? Have you instilled 
into their young and yielding minds, the principles of 
religion, and the precepts of wisdom and virtue? Have 
you prayed with them as well as for them, that they 
may grow in grace and in favour with God and man as 
they grow in age? As a child, have you honoured and 
obeyed your parents with affectionate and grateful at- 
tention? As a master, have you behaved with gentleness 
towards your servants, " knowing that you also have a 
master in Heaven?" Have you endeavoured to mitigate 
and sooth the hard condition of servitude by every rea- 
sonable indulgence, and have you uniformly avoided all 
harshness, imperiousness, or severity of deportment to- 
wards them? As a servant, have you been diligent, so- 
ber, and honest in your calling, " not purloining, not an- 
swering again, but showing all good fidelity."* 

Titus. 2—10. 



40 

If in any of these characters in which Providence may 
]iave called upon you to act, you have violated any of 
the duties I have enumerated, you have done your part 
in promoting the coiTuption of morals, in provoking the 
displeasure of Almighty God, and in inducing the cala- 
mities or evils which have fallen upon our country. Be 
it your part, therefore, to repair by repentance and im- 
mediate reformation, the mischief and misery you have 
occasioned by your folly and your sin. 

" O Israel! thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me 
is thy help." 

We, brethren, as rational beings, are consequent!}' 
free agents; but, from the original corruption of our na- 
ture, by the disobedience of our first progenitors, the 
natural propensities of the human heart are to evil; to 
preserve us from the influence of which, or recover us 
from its dominion, after we have submitted to it, the in- 
finite mercy of the Deity induced him to provide a reme- 
dy; to offer such spiritual aid and protection, as, if ap- 
plied for and sought through the channels which he hath 
appointed, will enable us to resist evil, to recover our last 
dignity, to conciliate the favour of Almighty God, and 
finally to obtain perfect and eternal felicity in Heaven. 
But, if we neglect the use of those means, we cannot ob- 
tain the blessed effects produced by them, and by them 
alone. If, therefore, we fall througli the dcceitfulncss of 
sin, we fall wilfully, our destruction is of ourselves. " O 
Israel thou hast destroyed thyself, but in me is thy help." 
This help, however, terminates with time; for ''there can 
be no repentance in the grave." God, we are assured, 
willeth not the death or final destruction of a sinner, but 



41 

that all should be saved. He hath called to us b}- iiis 
Prophets; he remonstrates with us by his Priests; he in- 
structs us by his Providence; and by his Holy Scriptures, 
which he hath caused " to be written for our learning;" 
he allures us by the mission, the promises, the miracles, 
the atonement, the perpetual intercession of his only 
Sony to turn from our evil ways, and live — to ^^ look un- 
to him and be saved;" he hath offered us the celestial 
succour and support of the Ilo/y Ghost, the Comforter ^ 
to purify our hearts, and prepare us for a future inter- 
course with saints and angels, with the blessed inhabi- 
tants of Heaven. 

" What could he have done more for his vineyard 
that he hath not done in it?" " Our sufficiency," there- 
fore " is of God." Our salvation is of the Lord, and can- 
not fail to save those who embrace it. 

With life and death, eternal felicity, or unutterable 
misery thus set before us, " why will we die?" Why do 
we not all avail ourselves of the infallible means which 
God has provided for our escape from the thraldom of 
sin, and the inevitable destruction which must follow? 
Let every individual consider these solemn truths, and 
apply these important questions to himself; and let the 
consciousnesss of his errors induce sincere repentance 
and immediate reformation; that he may thereby not on- 
ly save his own soul in the last great day of account, 
but be a powerful agent in averting from our afflicted 
countr}^ the misery under which she now groans, and 
the desolation and destruction which threaten so speedily 
to overwhelm her. 

Now to God the Father, &:c. 



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RD-94 




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